Washington is the fourth state to offer Save to Win, which encourages members to save with a chance to win monthly and annual prizes. By making a $25 deposit, members at the six participating credit unions will be entered into a drawing to win a $5,000 annual prize as well as monthly prizes of up to $5,000.

Washington’s Save to Win program has a similar model to those currently offered in Michigan, Nebraska and North Carolina.

The six Washington credit unions participating in this program are the $162 million O Bee Credit Union in Tumwater; the $740 million Fibre Federal Credit Union in Longview; the $834 million TwinStar Credit Union in Lacey; the $24 million Connection Credit Union in Silverdale, $167 million North Coast Credit Union in Bellingham, and the $9.9 million Express Credit Union in Seattle.

After researching operations models, the NWCUA and its launching credit unions opted to contract with Michigan-based CUSG to operate the program for three years. Michigan’s program has already resulted in 40,000 unique accounts and deposits in excess of $70 million, according to the NWCUA.

“Research has shown that with Save to Win, un-banked and under-banked consumers become savers, often for the first time in their lives,” Stang said. “We’re pleased to facilitate this launch because we know the result will be more financially fit consumers who are better prepared now to save for their goals.”